Wednesday, June 26, 2013

SAO PAULO--In a series of votes Tuesday night and into the early hoursWednesday, Brazil's Congress began efforts to approve social and politicalreforms, even as protestors prepared a new round of demonstrations for laterWednesday.

Brazil's Chamber of Deputies voted in favor of legislation that woulddedicate royalties from massive offshore oil reserves to public education andhealth. The bill gives 75% of such revenue to education and 25% to health. Thelegislation must now be approved by the Senate, where it is likely to pass.

By a lopsided vote, the Chamber of Deputies defeated a proposedconstitutional amendment that would have limited the power of prosecutors toinvestigate cases of corruption. The proposal was extremely unpopular withvoters and has been a frequent target of the protests that have rocked Brazilfor more than two weeks.

In a speech Tuesday, Senate President Renan Calheiros, speaking in the nameof a broad coalition of congressional leaders, pledged to keep Congress insession "for the next 10 to 15 days" in order to clear an existing agenda ofreforms. These include bills to increase federal transfer payments to statesand municipalities, a measure that should help localities improvetransportation, education and health services. Congress is also likely to voteon a bill eliminating most taxes from a list of basic foodstuffs.

Demonstrations have brought as many as a million Brazilians at a time intothe streets of more than a hundred cities. They are protesting issues such asthe high cost of living, rising bus fares, corruption and deteriorating publicservices.

At times, the protests have turned violent. At least four deaths haveoccurred during demonstrations, according to police. Angry protestors haveclashed with police, who typically wield nightsticks and shields. The conflictshave yielded hundreds of people injured or arrested. Protests also have turnedinto episodes of looting and vandalism.

Protestors were planning a new round of demonstrations for later Wednesday,with the national capital of Brasilia and the inland metropolis of BeloHorizonte as the focal points.

In Brasilia, police were already toiling in the early hours of Wednesday tocordon off an area around the city's downtown plaza, where the modernisticstructures of Brazil's federal government are located.

For the first time since protests began, police in Brasilia will search bagsof demonstrators entering downtown areas. Police said they will also limitvehicular traffic in certain areas of the city.

In Belo Horizonte, protestors will focus on the city's huge sports stadium,where Brazil will face off against Uruguay in a Confederations Cup soccer gameWednesday afternoon.

The Confederations Cup, a warm up to the 2014 World Soccer Cup, has alsobeen a frequent target for demonstrators, who bemoan the high cost to taxpayersof preparing stadiums and other public works. Brazil is the host for both theConfederations Cup and next year's World Cup, while Rio de Janeiro will hostthe 2016 Olympics.

Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff is expected to remain in BrasiliaWednesday for more meetings with congressional leaders.

In a televised news conference Tuesday night, Education Minister AloizioMercadante said the administration was modifying a proposal on political reformmade by the president earlier this week. Instead of holding a referendum aimedat creating a special constituent assembly on political reform, theadministration will ask Congress to schedule a public vote aimed at approval ofspecific electoral and political party reforms.

Congressional leaders and the president of the Brazilian Bar Association onTuesday criticized the original proposal as unworkable and, possibly,unconstitutional.